


Werewolf High: Footnotes on Anthropocentrism and Werewolves in Urban Fantasy

by churkey



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anthropocentrism, Derek Hale is Not a Failwolf, Derek Hale is a Softie, Fluff, Geek Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Meta, Metafiction, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Stiles Stilinski Has ADHD, The Hale Family (Teen Wolf) Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27725207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/churkey/pseuds/churkey
Summary: All Stiles wants to do is read this anthropocentrism meta essay on his favourite show, Werewolf High. Derek, however, is distracting.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 80
Kudos: 85





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pdxtrent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pdxtrent/gifts), [snowqueenlou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowqueenlou/gifts).



> So... Um. Yeah. Prompted by pdxtrent and someone else (I'll credit you if you remind me!). He wanted me to write a proper meta essay on anthropocentrism in Teen Wolf.
> 
> This is that essay. Kind of. All the details are Teen Wolf with names swapped, ignore the footnotes if that's all you want to read. Read the footnotes if you want to, um, read the story?
> 
> Honestly, writing non-fiction is hard and kind of... bleh for me these days. Having fun with it like this is about the only way I managed to finish (and the latter parts aren't very good...)
> 
> Last! I wanted to try something fun for my 100th work posted on AO3. So even if it's kind of been a slog getting here (mostly because of all the migraines), I'm happy with this. It gets better in the second chapter, I promise.

On the surface of  things delving into the various[snack] ways that anthropocentrism is articulated in an urban fantasy TV show for teens and the fanfiction created by fans is a frivolous endeavour. In general, media created for teens and children tends to be viewed as frivolous in and of itself. Then there’s the general handwaving and dismissal of fanfiction as being the frivolous creations of people with too much time on their hands—if only because it challenges our general view that labour must produce capital for it to be meaningful. Fans, by their own admission, create fanworks for fun.  This essay will not be engaging in this debate.[glad] Many defences of media created for children and teens have been mounted, the same with fanfiction and other fanworks. That anthropocentrism—as one part of the worldview held by white, colonial cultures and states—is worthy of study should require no defence. However, as with many abstract ideas—particularly those that are part of a set of assumptions that structure how we perceive and interact with the world—concrete examples help illustrate the material reality and consequences of these ideas and worldviews.

Zhuangzi, over two thousand years ago during the Warring States period in China, told a story about a discussion he had with Huizi—himself a member of the School of Names, known for their sophistry—  that tidily explicates anthropocentrism and one critique of it:[anthropocentrism]

> Chuang Tzu and Hui Tzu were strolling along the dam of the Hao River when Chuang Tzu said, “See how the minnows come out and dart around where they please! That’s what fish really enjoy!”

> Hui Tzu said, “You’re not a fish – how do you know what fish enjoy?” (Zhuangzi 1968).

This story is particularly illustrative since it emphasizes something we do with animals all the time: that is, we ascribe human emotions and motivations to them—in other words, we anthropomorphize them.  We say dogs love us when they greet us at the door—all wagging tails and excited jumping.[dogs] Note, no assertion is being made as to whether or not animals can feel love. Rather, anthropocentrism suggests that the question ‘Can dogs love?’ is fundamentally flawed since the way we usually answer the question is by comparing it to human experience.

Whales provide a more concrete example of how anthropomorphizing is also anthropocentrism. Whaling (i.e., the hunting of whales) was a common practice before the 1970s: it was serious problem that still endangers many species. In 1970, Roger Payne released _Songs of the Humpback Whale_ ; thereby sparking a global  ‘save the whales’ movement leading to our current international ban on hunting whales (“Songs of the Humpback Whale (Album)” 2020).[whales] Why did this happen? What does it matter that whales sing? It matters because singing _humanized_ whales. We saw them as intelligent animals capable of creating music and, thus, they moved to a category beyond food or consumable resource. It’s the same reason most people find eating dogs, cats, and horses morally repugnant.

Of course, you can look at the example of whales and think, “If it saved the whales, is anthropocentrism so bad?”. The example’s purpose was to demonstrate that anthropocentrism has material consequences. In that case, they were positive. In most cases, they aren’t. Again, consider whales. Anthropomorphizing saved them from the more dire consequences of anthropocentrism. As part of the worldview that created the white, colonial, and capitalist cultures of Europe and North America, the separation of humans from nature and centring of humans in the world is what led to whales—and nature as a whole—to be seen as exploitable resources for and by humans. Unchecked exploitation is precisely why whales were endangered. In other words, anthropocentrism cannot be the solution to the problems it causes.

This essay will discuss anthropocentrism, werewolves, and urban fantasy as it occurs on three different levels: the individual, the pack, and inter-pack werewolf culture as a whole—working from the micro to the macro.

For the sake of brevity, this essay will focus on the popular show, ‘Werewolf High’, since it’s more likely you’ll be familiar with it. Werewolf High is a show about a teen who—by a twist of fate—gets turned into a werewolf,  introducing him to the scary world of the supernatural.[bite] Since the show is told from the protagonist’s perspective, we only get hints about this new world as he learns them. The relatively sparse world-building is part of why there is a large and active fandom—the fans are able fill in a lot of the details as they see fit, generating a vast amount of stories and text.

In any case, the werewolf lore in the series has _some_ features common to urban fantasy in general, while also having a few interesting deviations. Common elements include having an alpha/beta/omega hierarchy, some wolves being born, and some being turned. Unique elements include omegas being defined as lone wolves—wolves without a pack—and that only alphas can turn humans. There is, of course, the part where alpha werewolves have red, glowing eyes, while betas or  omegas have either gold or blue.[blue] That’s the show. In the fiction written by fans—known either as ‘fanfic’ or sometimes just ‘fic’—certain themes in the lore have risen to the height of what is known as fanon—fandom canon. Some of these themes will be engaged, since they represent shared ideas about how werewolves are conceptualized in urban fantasy.

Anthropocentrism in Werewolf High is interesting because of how _interesting_ and _exciting_ it is to imagine and explore the implications of  sentient non-human beings,[nonhuman] like werewolves, existing in our current world. Obviously, non-human beings are all around us, the difference with werewolves—and similar creatures from mythology—is that we can communicate with them in ways we understand. They can use human languages to communicate their inner thoughts and worlds to us. It isn’t possible with most non-human animals on earth.

Of course, talking about the show requires talking about the fandom’s most popular ‘ship: Kirk, a portmanteau for ’Koz’ Kowalski and Dirk Howell. Dirk Howell is the mysterious, dark possible-antagonist for the first few seasons and ‘Koz’ Kowalski is the best friend of Steve Delgado—the teen whose world gets turned upside down after being bitten by a werewolf. The popularity of the ship means that most of the themes explored will have these characters as their main protagonists. While this essay is a _critique_ and exploration of anthropocentrism in Werewolf High and the fic created by the fandom, it isn’t a judgement on the participants or writers. Indeed, the enthusiasm of the fans is why there is such a large body of work to examine, why it becomes easy to identify themes—or ‘tropes’ in fandom jargon. Werewolf High fic is merely an illustrative example of themes that exist both within urban fantasy  and the world at large.[plans]

* * *

## Footnotes

**snack** Stiles groaned. He _hates_ it when you finally sit down to read or do something, only to realize you want snacks. He grumpily heaves himself off the coach to wander into his kitchen. He settles on red vines and plops himself down. He hopes this meta essay is as interesting as it sounds. [return to text]

* * *

**glad** Stiles was glad that he wasn’t going to have to read yet another ‘fic is _real_ writing’ defence. He’d seen most of it. Fuck, he’d had to defend himself and his love of fic to his friends and family. So what if he liked a TV show for teens about werewolves and shit? It was his time and he could do what he wanted. [return to text]

* * *

**anthropocentrism** Stiles blinked. Was this author _really_ not going to give a more accessible definition of anthropocentrism? Fucking academics. He quickly googled it to see [what Wikipedia had to say about it](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anthropocentrism&oldid=973226442): “Anthropocentrism…is the belief that human beings are the most important entity in the universe. Anthropocentrism interprets or regards the world in terms of human values and experiences” (“Anthropocentrism” 2020). Ah… That was clearer. He paused, mind racing. Could this explain some of why it was so hard to get along with Derek? **return to text]

* * *

**dogs** Stiles makes a face at the essay. He gets what the author is saying but he’ll fight to the very bitter end defending dogs and their pure love. [return to text]

* * *

**whales** Stiles wasn’t gonna lie. He immediately bought a copy of _Song of the Humpback Whale_ and was currently listening to it as he read.

“ _Stiles!_ ” Derek growled, “What the fuck are you listening to?”

“Have you seriously never heard whale song, Derek? Because I won’t believe you,” Stiles said. He was totally onto Derek. The dude was a secret marshmallow and 1000% would listen to whales sing.

“ _Why_ are you listening to whales?”

“Um… because I’m reading this essay about anthropocentrism and fanfic? They totally just talked about how this album literally saved the fucking whales. So obviously it needed to be the soundtrack of my journey through this essay,” Stiles explained, flailing his arms because _whales_ , man. _Whales!_

Derek narrowed his eyes, “This is about that show Werewolf High, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Stiles said defensively, “And before you start, I know the show is silly but someone who knows about actual werewolves created the show. A lot of the lore is wrong but there are enough nuggets of truth that it counts as legit research! Wait, what are you even _doing_ here?”

Derek looked shifty, “Mostly hiding from Laura.”

Stiles laughed. _Marshmallow_. Derek _looked_ like a bad boy and was a werewolf to boot but he wasn’t the alpha and Laura totally dominated their relationship. Mostly with loving kindness that Derek loved to hate. [return to text]

* * *

**bite** Stiles will _never_ stop being amused at the existence of this show. Yes, as a spark, he was part of the _real_ supernatural world, so the show’s inaccuracies and melodrama _should_ put him off. It totally didn’t. He’d say it was his guilty pleasure but he didn’t feel an ounce of guilt over his gleeful enjoyment. The entire premise was absurd! It was _glorious_. [return to text]

* * *

**blue** Stiles thought that the eye colour detail was something that irritated him the most. Derek had blue eyes because he was a _born_ wolf. Bitten wolves had golden eyes. The whole thing about blue eyes meaning a wolf who’d killed an innocent made Stiles _angry_ because some of those misconceptions bled into real life. Stiles _hated_ that Derek got teased about being a killer because he could tell it hurt him. And Stiles didn’t like things that hurt Derek.

“Why do you smell angry?” Derek asked.

Stiles startled. He’d thought Derek had left. Had he been _watching_ Stiles read? Why was Derek such a creeper?

“As much as I love Werewolf High, the whole eye colour thing bugs me,” Stiles grumbled.

“Why? It’s good that they didn’t get the details exactly right,” Derek said, eyebrows conveying his confusion.

“Because you don’t like it when people tease you about being a killer!” Stiles practically shouted, one flailing hand almost hitting Derek in the face.

“Huh,” was Derek’s eloquent response. [return to text]

* * *

**nonhuman** Stiles grumbled at the use of ‘non-human’ since it seemed to still centre humans by making them the default and marking everything else as ‘other’. But he supposed it was _marginally_ better than the author coming up with some awkward alternative. Still… [return to text]

**plans** “What are you doing later?” Derek’s voice brokes Stiles’ concentration but it was okay, since he just finished the introduction.

“Um, nothing? Why?”

“Good,” Derek said and then wandered off.

Stiles squinted at him suspiciously. Derek was being _weird_. Like, he was normally weird but there was something off about him today.

If only because he’d _never_ come to Stiles’ place to hideout. Or, Stiles thought for a moment, he doesn’t think Derek’s ever been to his apartment. [return to text]


	2. The Lone Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I deeply resent that Freud was so useful... >.>

## Werewolf Psychology 101

As noted in the introduction, this essay will be moving from the micro to the macro. In the case of Werewolf High, we begin with the dark, mysterious, could-be-an-antagonist Dirk Howell. As previously stated, the lore within Werewolf High isn’t detailed or even consistently developed. We do, however, know one very important face about Dirk: he was born as a werewolf—unlike the main protagonist, Steve,  who is bitten against his will.[turned]

The theme of the first season is largely about being human: it’s the main source of conflict between the characters in the show. The initial tension and conflict between Dirk and Steve is Steve’s desire to retain/maintain his humanity and Dirk’s failure to be appropriately human—even as he attempts to help Steve stay in ‘control’. The inclusion of sentient non-humans who were never human is one of the most interesting aspects of urban fantasy. While it isn’t true in all cases, as some still attribute being a werewolf to a curse, it’s a fairly common detail.

A major theme in the first season’s narrative arc is the protagonist’s transformation from human to something _Other_. We see through him—and other bitten wolves—that becoming a werewolf is a  non-trivial event.[trivial] That it changes something fundamental about who you are. We can only conclude from this that Dirk being born a werewolf _is_ important. Of course, how and why it’s important depends on the writer—it depends on the world built around the story. Some writers treat being a werewolf as essentially human with something extra and others—more rarely—write werewolves as entirely unhuman.

One of the more… interesting variations of the ‘werewolves are humans with something extra’ conceptualization is the concept of werewolves having an  ‘inner’ wolf.[inner wolf] In this conceptualization, it’s obvious that werewolves are considered both human and wolf. Some fics go so far as to actually _separate_ the two via a curse or whatever.

Consider how the ‘human’ and the ‘wolf’ are understood. In most cases, the human represents the thinking, rational part of the werewolf, whereas the wolf usually embodies the more instinctual/physical/frequently emotional aspects of a werewolf. The dual nature of werewolves—as being the liminal space between human and animal—invokes a series of dichotomies that are embedded into the white/western worldview.

This duality—that werewolves are both human and wolf—is the most prevalent one in the fandom. It’s unsurprising considering that this duality is supported by canon. In the first few episodes of Werewolf High, Dirk attempts to teach Steve how to ‘control’ himself. We are told two things: pain helps keep werewolves human and controlling the shift requires  “tapping into a primal animal rage” (Season 1, Episode 6).[primal] It’s a revealing statement.

It immediately calls to mind  Freud and his concepts of the id and (super)ego.[freud] He viewed the id as being the more instinctual, animalistic part of our mind. It is what the superego attempts to temper, while the ego mediates between the two. From this perspective, werewolves stay in control by ‘anchoring’ themselves to their ego/superego. It is a more conscious rejection of the id. At the same time, if they want to shift they must tap into their id. In other words, a werewolves’ inner wolf is the id and their humanity is the (super)ego. This is, perhaps, the least interesting dichotomy suggested by the duality of werewolves in media.

What’s truly fascinating about invoking Freud to analyze the psychology of werewolves is that he explicitly references wolves when discussing the more base nature of humans:

> The element of truth behind all this, which people are so ready to disavow, is that men are not gentle creatures who want to be loved, and who at the most can defend themselves if they are attacked; they are, on the contrary, creatures among whose instinctual endowments is to be reckoned a powerful share of aggressiveness…  Homo homini lupus [“Man is a wolf to man”][lupus]. (Freud 1962, 52)

This certainly seems to describe Werewolf High’s—and its fandom’s—typical conceptualization of werewolves. Of course, this is frequently softened from Freud’s formulation but the basic premise remains.

Freud’s statement is part of a larger discussion about civilization, where he explores the relationship between human psychology and the ‘natural’ (external world) and civilization, such that nature represents the id and civilization the ego. The micro reflects the macro. Indeed, earlier in the book he discusses how people mature through a process by which “the ego detaches itself from the external world” (Freud 1962, 15). Thus, werewolves retain their humanity by detaching themselves from their inner wolf/id. In the same way,  humans as a whole remain civilized by detaching ourselves from nature.[civilized]

This is the reason why, in most cases, the human/rational side of werewolves is considered the more superior and desirable one. The ‘wolf’—metaphorically representing nature—needs to be controlled and tamed by humans. Dirk and the other werewolves are constantly struggling to be _more_ human; to _anchor_ themselves to their ‘humanity’. This necessarily puts humans/humanity at the _centre_ of what werewolves are and desire: thus, we have anthropocentrism.  The most desirable thing for a werewolf to be is _human_ —not a werewolf or a wolf—but _human_.[human]

This conceptualization of werewolves is interesting because it contradicts modern theories of human psychology _and_ animal behaviour. It’s a contradiction that Dirk himself highlights when he says that werewolves are predators but not killers in the first season. In the show, they attribute Steve’s new bouts of anger and aggression to his ‘wolf’. Except, wolves don’t behave _like_ how Freud and others characterize them (and anthropomorphize to putatively embody base human nature). Wolves aren’t aggressive and angry—if they get angry at all.

In most werewolf lore,  the full moon seems to give more control to the ‘wolf’ but it doesn’t make any sense for this to result in the werewolves hunting or hurting humans[full moon] —especially if it wasn’t for food or survival—because wolves don’t behave like that. Of course, it could be argued that a werewolf’s ‘inner wolf’ _isn’t_ intended to faithful to actual wolf behaviour since they are magical/mythical creatures. Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that this conceptualization of werewolves centres and privileges humanity.

Any conceptualization of dual-natured werewolves in which the wolf side, in any way, invokes this particular dichotomy is necessarily anthropocentric. We can take this a step further: this entails that _any_ conceptualization that control for werewolves that requires them to be more human is anthropocentric, regardless of whether or not they have an ‘inner’ wolf. Furthermore, it’s possible to suggest that dual-natured conceptualizations where the werewolf struggles for control at all is likewise anthropocentric.

As you can see, it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine a dual-natured conceptualization that isn’t anthropocentric at its core. The problem chiefly rests on the notion that there is a real, substantive distinction between humans and nature. As noted elsewhere, this assumption is deeply embedded within the white, colonial, capitalist worldview—the very same one largely responsible for our current ecological crises.

## The Curious Case of Dirk Howell: Civilized Wolves Use Their Words

The discussion about the basic psychology of werewolves is necessary to contextualize how Werewolf High frames Dirk’s behaviour and the ways this is explored and characterized in fic. One of the most… interesting phenomenons in the fandom is the birth of the ‘failwolf’ tag. The notion that Dirk is a Failwolf is something that goes beyond a trope—to a certain extent, it’s canon. To an even greater extent,  it’s generally accepted that he failed in many ways.[failure] This is _especially_ true of his time as an alpha. [Consider that the ‘failwolf’ tag was invented to describe Dirk, as HalfFizzbin says](https://web.archive.org/web/20190721031615/https://fanlore.org/wiki/Failwolf_Friday):

> I established a “failwolf” tag on my blog for posts making fun of [Dirk]’s various foibles, both from canon and from speculation—his creepiness, his lack of social graces, his inability to impress his betas, his apparent fear of stairs, and the general tragedy of his existence.

It cannot be denied that there are many humorous and lovely fics featuring Dirk’s ‘lack of social graces’. However, it should also be very clear that we are judging Dirk’s behaviour by _human_ social standards. In other words, Dirk doesn’t seem to do a very good job of pretending to be human—which isn’t too surprising given that he isn’t human. However, it’s interesting how  this characterization of Dirk’s ‘social graces’ feeds into the general perception that he is incompetent.[graces]

As noted in the discussion on werewolf psychology, humanity is associated with being civilized. A large part of this relates to the use of verbal language and ‘appropriate’ social etiquette. We consider animals intelligent partially based on their ability to interpret human verbalizations or language and _all_ of them are considered less intelligent because they lack what we consider a ‘language’. The same applies to manners. The perceived lack of these—and other—markers of civilization is precisely the justification white people used to colonize the world.

In Season 1, Episode 5, Dirk tells Steve that “communication doesn’t have to be spoken”—which is a particularly interesting statement for a born werewolf to make. In fic, Dirk is frequently characterized as being almost non-verbal; often grunting or growling instead of talking—he’s frequently being told to ‘use his words’. Or, if he does talk, they aren’t the right words, since the words he uses are frequently the source of miscommunication and conflict. So he either doesn’t talk enough or his actual words are disregarded because they don’t come packaged in the standard human way, because he isn’t _polite_ or _respectful_.

Within the show, the fact that Dirk isn’t nice causes Steve to speculate that the murder of Dirk’s pack might be justified because the hunter family he knows is _nicer_.[nice] The inability to appear civilized by white people’s standards was likewise used to justify slavery and genocide on a global scale—it wasn’t until after the Catholic church determined that Indigenous peoples in the Americas had souls that wholescale genocide became frowned upon. A lack of civilization also justified treating Africans as fungible commodities, rather than people.

In Dirk’s case, his uncivilized behaviour motivates his general characterization of incompetence. Here similarities can be drawn to developmental disorders like Autism or neurobehavioural ones like ADHD. Autism is especially apt when verbal acuity is taken into account but both are relevant when considering social behaviours. As noted above, Dirk is frequently told in many fics—particularly those that use the ‘failwolf’ tag—to ‘use his words’. This is something frequently told to children, most especially autistic ones. [The blogger Neurodivergent K addresses the use of ‘use your words’ in applied behavioural analysis (ABA) therapy](https://web.archive.org/web/20190422182710/http://timetolisten.blogspot.com/2013/10/if-you-dont-use-your-words-you-wont-be.html):

> ‘Use your words’ holds my needs hostage to performance of typicality and says I do not deserve to have my needs met if I cannot make that performance work. That is what you are saying when you tell me to use my words. And you don’t even really want _my_ words…You want your sentence construction. You want ‘polite’ and ‘respectful’.

Again, we see how anthropocentric characterizations have consequences in the real world because there are types of people who aren’t great at verbal communication. For them, demands to ‘use their words’ are ableist and contribute to their experiences of discrimination.

Perhaps the most interesting juxtaposition in the fandom is the difference in how Koz and Dirk are characterized. There is almost universal consensus within the fandom that Koz has ADHD, which is a neurobehavioural disorder that can present with certain social dysfunctions. Koz’s propensity to ramble is usually attributed to this, as well as other generally unacceptable social behaviours.  The difference, however, is that Koz’s poor social skills are usually portrayed positively or, at least, as having no negative consequences.[unacceptable] For example, take a look at some of the alternate universes that occur within an office setting: Koz’s behaviour in many of these fics could easily be construed as sexual harassment.

The difference isn’t easily reduced to the fact that Koz is human and Dirk a (born) werewolf—since the turned or bitten wolves were socialized as humans. There are other born wolves on the show who do a far better job at acting human. Rather, the difference is in their ability to ‘use their words’. Koz’s ability to talk himself in or out of situations is typically one of his better-portrayed traits, just as Dirk’s lack of verbal skills is the source of a lot of conflicts.

However, Dirk isn’t autistic. He lacks verbal acuity but, if we take his words seriously, one would expect him to be particularly sensitive to body language, prosody, and chemo-signals—to whatever degree explored in the fic—not to speak of the fact that it’s _verbalizing_ he’s bad at—not necessarily listening. Considering that _most_ of communication—even amongst humans—is non-verbal, the portrayal of his lack of social graces appears to boil down to how articulate he is (or isn’t). Contrasted with Koz, who actually has ADHD and is frequently characterized as missing non-verbal social cues, yet is considered the better socialized of the two. The difference, ultimately, rests on anthropocentric notions of civilized behaviour.

I want to make it clear: the parallels I’m drawing between neurodivergent behaviour and werewolves isn’t accidental or careless. While urban fantasy has somewhat changed the perception of werewolves and other mythical creatures as monsters into something a little more neutral, they are still the monstrous Other. Madness is likewise used as a source of horror within the genre. It is monstrous and so are those we portray as mad. All sorts of people get unfairly labelled with that. Look at the anti-vaxxer movement: an entire movement spawned from false evidence linking vaccines to autism. The idea of having an autistic child is so monstrous to these people that they’re willing to risk their kid getting _polio_.

The perception of Dirk’s incompetence versus Koz’s competence is important to how fic explores pack and pack dynamics and key to understanding the ways in which anthropocentrism informs these explorations. In much the same way that Freud connects individual psychology to sociology; the macro reflecting the micro.

* * *

## Footnotes

**turned** One of the reasons Stiles enjoys the show is because he can identify with some of the plot elements and characters. His best friend, Scott, was bitten against his will when a rogue alpha came onto the Hale territory when they were in high school. Unlike Steve, though, they’d had the Hales to help them out. Of course, Stiles would’ve normally been kept in the dark—except he’d totally figured out that Scott was a werewolf before he did. Stiles was awesome like that. In a way… the show was like a dark parallel universe to their lives. As Abed in Community would say: it was the darkest timeline. [return to text]

* * *

**trivial** Stiles snorts because _what?_

“What’s so amusing?” Derek asked.

Fucking werewolves and their hearing… “Just this essay and some of the fic I’ve read. Does anyone actually think being turned is a ‘trivial’,” Stiles made the air quotes, “event? I mean, obviously, it’s a big deal!”

“What’s the context?”

“The writer is mostly talking about how it’s important that born werewolves exist since it means that werewolves can’t be understood as humans with a little extra, especially since in Werewolf High it’s a Big Deal. Which, yeah, but like Scott getting turned _was_ a big deal but he was still basically Scott. So, yeah, Scott with something extra makes sense to me,” Stiles explained.

Derek plopped onto the couch next to him, “Well… I can see where the writer is coming from. I don’t know what it’s like to be human so I can’t say but… we _are_ different. I can’t imagine being any other way,” Derek said thoughtfully.

“Okay, so Alternate Universes where Dirk—the born werewolf—is human are totally a thing. Do you think that a human version of him is still him?” Stiles wonders. Derek’s thigh is pressed against his and it’s _really_ distracting.

“No, I don’t see how it could be. Being a wolf is fundamental to who I am. Take it away and I’m not Derek Hale anymore. You know how some things are just… part of what makes you, you? If I dye my hair, I’m still Derek. Then again… maybe it depends on the person. Take redheads, for example, their hair colour might be an important part of their identity. Important enough that when you take it away, they’re someone else. So maybe both are true, to an extent,” Derek muses.

Stiles hates that he finds Derek so attractive when he’s flexing his brain. He knows he’s in trouble because he finds it _more_ attractive than the flex of his biceps. [return to text]

* * *

**inner wolf** “Hey, Derek,” Stiles called out because he had to ask.

“Yes?”

“So, like… do you have an inner wolf? This essay is talking about werewolf psychology now and it’s talking about how some fic writers portray werewolves as having an ‘inner wolf’. I thought that was a thing? Like Scott talks about his wolf all the time…” Stiles trails off hoping that Derek will answer.

“What?” Derek came up and leaned in close, to squint at Stiles’ screen. It was _really_ distracting because his body was all big and warm and he smelled so _good_. Stiles really needed to figure out what cologne he wore.

“Do you wear cologne? Or is that your soap?” Stiles blurted out because fuck his life.

Derek looked startled but then got a sly look, “Stiles, I’m a werewolf. I don’t use scented products. I hate the way they all smell. Anyway, to answer your question, I don’t have an inner wolf. That’s not a thing.”

Stiles is _so happy_ Derek is letting his comment slide, “Why does Scott talk about his then?”

“He’s probably talking about his instincts,” Derek muses, “We’ve never talked about it and I don’t know many bitten wolves. The new instincts might seem like an entirely alien presence in their minds. Although, this explains why he still has so many problems with control.”

“Oh?” Now Stiles was _really_ curious.

“My mom teaches us control by not trying to ‘control’ ourselves. She says to listen and follow our instincts. Instead of control, she teaches us how to be subtle about our behaviour so we fit in with humans,” Derek tries to explain, it’s clear he’s never tried to talk about it.

“Is it like a balance thing? Like, you balance your wolf side and your human side?”

“What? No. Trying to be human would be self-defeating. We can’t be something we aren’t. My mom discourages us from thinking like that, she tells us to look at human behaviour and question whether we really want to be like that. Before we were forced to hide amongst humans, we tended to be more like a lot of Indigenous peoples—existing as one part of a larger ecosystem. We had conflicts and fought over territory sometimes but we didn’t wage war. We’re sentient and feel like humans, so we had some of the same issues. But something like what my white ancestors did when colonizing this area never would’ve happened without human influence. We learned things like genocide from humans.”

“Huh,” Stiles said because he’d obviously missed a lot because of some really shitty assumptions that he’d never bothered to question. Too much fucking fanfiction indeed, “Why doesn’t Scott know this?”

“We tried but you know how he is,” Derek said, rolling his eyes, “Plus, you know how my mom’s respected because she can do a full shift?” Stiles nods so Derek keeps going, “Lots of people think it’s something unique to our lineage. They don’t listen to her when she says it’s because of how we understand ourselves. We’re taught to be _werewolves_ , not control or whatever. So it’s easy to just… flow from one shape to another. It’s a part of us, it’s what we are.”

Stiles’ mind is blown and while he’s super interested in what Derek is saying, he’s also really distracted by how close Derek’s face is. How his eyes look when they’re bright with excitement as he talks about himself. How fucking _soft_ his beard looks and how much Stiles wants to rub his face on it. [return to text]

* * *

**primal** Stiles laughs because he remembers that episode because even Scott, who was just learning to be a werewolf, had scoffed at the idea that tapping into primal animal rage is how he shifted. Scott was like an actual puppy—animal rage was not something he had in abundance. Or at all, really. [return to text]

* * *

**freud** Stiles groaned out loud, “Omg! I can’t believe this ass is talking about _Freud_ of all people.”

“The guy was a misogynist pig—among other fine qualities—but his influence on how people think about each other is undeniable,” Derek laughed while pontificating.

“Ugh, whatever. I _know_. It’s _so annoying_ though! Just because he comes up with essentially _one_ important insight into human psychology while doing pseudo-science we’re stuck with him _forever_ ,” Stiles whined.

“Awww! You’re adorable. It’ll all be okay, promise,” Derek said as he rubbed Stiles’ back and, wow, that felt _good_. Like Stiles knew that Derek was being a condescending jerk on purpose—sassy Derek was one of Stiles’ favourite Dereks—but it was still strangely comforting. [return to text]

* * *

**lupus** Stiles threw his hands into the air and flailed with indignation and anger, “This is why there are no wolves in California!”

Derek huffed and gave him a pointed look.

“You know what I mean!” Stiles grumbled, “Freud literally talks about how men are aggressive and savage and this is why ‘man is wolf to man’. This bullshit notion that wolves are unchecked, aggressive predators is why they were hunted to extinction here even though they are a keystone species! I can’t even.”

Derek smiled at him, “You’re adorable when you flail with righteous indignation.”

Stiles’ brain just sort of… shorted out because _what?_ Did Derek Hale just call him _adorable?_ When did this become a thing?

Because Stiles has always… _noticed_ Derek but he didn’t think Derek noticed _him_. [return to text]

* * *

**civilized** “Do you think werewolves are closer to nature?” Stiles asks Derek.

“Yes,” is Derek’s simple reply.

“Would you consider wolves to be more or less civilized than humans?”

“No.”

Stiles rolls his eyes, “That doesn’t answer the question: _more or less_ civilized?”

“No,” Derek says again with a smirk, which means he answered that way on purpose.

Seriously, why does Stiles have to like absurdly beautiful—but sassy—people?

“Aw, don’t pout,” Derek teases, “We both know you’ll school me on something soon enough.”

Is this flirting? Stiles needs to know. Because of reasons. [return to text]

* * *

**human** “Speaking of hunters…” Stiles started, “Would you want to be human?”

“No,” Derek promptly replied.

“Despite the extra danger? And, like, being a target for genocide?” Stiles wonders.

“No,” Derek says with emphasis, “I can’t imagine being human. One of the things I like about reading, despite not being able to identify with a lot of the characters, is that look into how humans think. What they feel. It’s weird and fascinating but I’d never want to live like that.”Humans… always seem to feel so _alone_ and _alienated_. I wouldn’t give up what being pack feels like for _anything_."

That makes Stiles pause because he doesn’t know what Derek is talking about. He thought he and Scott were pack but Derek is making it sound like something… _more_. Scott is his best friend—his _brother_ —and Stiles wouldn’t give that up that feeling of family for anything either but… [return to text]

* * *

**full moon** Full moons with Scott have always been about staying in control and ensuring he doesn’t hurt anyone. But Stiles remembers what Derek said about his mom and how she doesn’t teach ‘control’.

“What’s the deal with the full moon?”

“Hmm?” Derek absently asks, not looking up from his book.

“This essay is saying that it doesn’t make sense for the full moon to making werewolves more aggressive since wolves don’t behave like that. Except full moons with Scott say different,” Stiles explains.

“Oh. You already know why Scott struggles but… we do feel the pull of the moon. It’s not aggression, though. Just… energy. Almost as if every cell in our body is singing: it’s why we want to run.”

“Huh. Would it be better for Scott to run?”

Derek shrugs, “I don’t know him that well. It’s just… energy. If you think he can channel it in constructive ways… If he’d join our pack, he could run with us.”

Stiles thinks, “How do wolves in the city deal with this?” he’s thinking about college and how he and Scott want to go to the same one.

Derek’s hand seems to _caress_ Stiles’ shoulder and he leans in to whisper into Stiles’ ear, “There are a lot of ways to channel energy, Stiles.”

Stiles shivers. Okay, he might be oblivious but even he can pick up the vibes Derek is sending. This is _definitely_ flirting. [return to text]

* * *

**failure** Stiles had to admit that the ‘failwolf’ trope was probably his least favourite thing in all the fandom. He understood why it existed and he certainly enjoyed the funny and fluffy fics it generated but… Stiles still didn’t _like_ it. It always made him think about Derek, which is probably why he disliked it so much.

Derek, on the whole, didn’t put much effort into passing as human. By which Stiles meant that he came off as a giant asshole whenever he talked to pretty much anyone who wasn’t pack. Derek was happy with his pack and didn’t feel the need to make connections outside of it. He came off as abrupt and cold and like a total jerk, even though he was mostly indifferent to non-pack members.

It had gained him a reputation for being a bad boy. The beard and leather jackets didn’t help. Except that he was like… the softest and fluffiest wolf _ever_ —even more than _Scott_ and that’s saying something—you just had to be pack to get the full Derek Hale experience.

For all that Derek looked tough, the main feeling he inspired in Stiles was a desperate need to protect and shelter him from the cruel, mean world. And, damn it, Stiles _would_ take care of Derek, if he was ever allowed. [return to text]

* * *

**social graces** Fuck, could Stiles _ever_ identify with this. He was pretty sure this is one of the reasons he loved the show—and Dirk—so much. You’d think he’d identify with the nerdy, flailing sidekick more, given that _he_ was essentially a nerdy, flailing sidekick. But…

Stiles had ADHD. He had ADHD and it had a profound impact on his social development and behaviour. He wasn’t great at picking up social cues, he loved to info dump on people, and lots of people thought he was an annoying asshole—all because he got excited about things and wanted to share that excitement and joy with people. Oh, he understood _now_ where he’d gone wrong as a kid. But hindsight did fuck all for the bullying and ostracizing he’d experienced.

Don’t even get him _started_ on how his teachers had constantly expected him to fail at school because of his behaviour—before _and_ after his diagnosis. He’d had to work _so hard_ just to prove that his disability didn’t automatically mean he was stupid or incompetent. That sure, he got distracted or hyper-focused on the wrong things, but he could figure out how to manage his time if given the chance. A lot of teachers hadn’t wanted to give him the chance—Mr. Harris being the worst of them.

So, yeah, he vibed with Dirk. Because of the way everyone saw him as a fuck up just because he couldn’t act like a ‘normal’ human. [return to text]

* * *

**nice** Now Stiles is wondering if this isn’t also the reason why a lot of fic writers implicitly blame Dirk for all the trauma and shit he experienced. He’s also suddenly having _a lot_ of feelings.

“Derek, I need a hug,” Stiles asks as he wanders over to where Derek appears to be making lunch. Derek immediately stops what he’s doing and opens his arms—didn’t Stiles say he was the fluffiest wolf _ever?_ —slotting himself into Derek’s arms and wrapping his around Derek’s waist, Stiles nestles his face into Derek’s neck and breathes.

It’s a familiar and comforting scent—Stiles has spent enough time with the pack that it’s altered his behaviour. He can’t smell like they do but scent has become important to him in ways it never was before.

Derek’s arms are strong and warm, his body solid and grounding. It’s a great fucking hug. Stiles can unambiguously state that Derek gives the best hugs. Even better than his dad’s—and that’s saying something.

(Probably that he’s hopelessly in love with Derek but at least it says it _silently_.) [return to text]

* * *

**unacceptable behaviour** Holy shit. Stiles can 100% identify with this. He thinks it’s one of the reasons he isn’t the biggest fan of Koz. For all that they have a great deal of similarities, Stiles can never get past his jealousy-induced rage that Koz gets rewarded for behaviour that he’s _always_ been punished for. [return to text]


	3. Pack Dynamics

## 3.1 Introduction

Packs and their dynamics are not exempt from Werewolf High’s sparse world-building. If you look at canon, the concept of ‘pack’ is nebulous and ill-defined within its lore. One of the only sure things is the general hierarchy: alphas as leaders, betas as pack members, and omegas as packless—each denoted by the respective colours of red for alphas and blue or gold for betas and omegas.

It’s notable that—within canon—pack hierarchy isn’t strictly adhered to,[strict] while the alpha is the leader and while they can exert a degree of influence over their betas, the first season’s narrative arc aptly demonstrates that this influence can be resisted. In the end, following an alpha seems to be a matter of choice.

Nor is there—within canon—any  formal procedure for joining a pack.[formal] Betas seem to be able to join and leave at will. In season one, Dirk mentions something about hunting with the alpha as a way to bond into the pack, it’s the first and only time we hear about it. There certainly doesn’t appear to be anything like  the pack bonds common in fic,[bonds] which can range from telepathic or empathic to a general metaphysical property.

As with other aspects of the sparse lore in canon, it means that fic—not that there is an obligation to adhere to canon lore—what a pack is, how one is formed, and the hierarchy (if any) is only limited by a writer’s imagination. Perhaps the only aspect that never really changes is that alphas have red eyes and are usually—but not always—the leaders.

It’s fascinating, then, that pack dynamics as portrayed in a lot of fic are startingly anthropocentric. This section will explore the various ways in which anthropocentrism creeps into portrayals of pack dynamics.

## 3.2 Packs Vs Families

A great deal of canon divergent fics that include the tags ‘pack dynamics’ or ‘pack feels’ on Archive of Our Own [AO3] tend to involve the found family trope. Depending on the fic, the ‘family’ can either be suspiciously heteronormative (see: Koz is the Pack Mom) or queerer (see: Families of Choice). These aren’t strict categories and they overlap in various interesting ways. While exploring those themes is interesting, this essay is more interested in  the analogy or metaphor of the ‘pack as family’ in and of itself,[metaphor] since the way most writers explore this metaphor is very anthropocentric. This is especially true of fics that depict Koz as the pack mom, since those fics tend towards heteronormativity.

At first glance, it seems almost trivial to note that packs are packs and families are families; one is a group of wolves and the other a group of humans. Thus, portraying pack dynamics as being those of a human family is anthropocentric. Interestingly, what complicates any discussion of this issue is our current, modern understanding of the pack dynamics of wolves in the wild.  Our current understanding of wolf ‘packs’ is that they _are_ families.[family] The ‘alpha’ pair is the breeding male and female. The ‘betas’ are their cubs. When the cubs reach a certain age, they’ll go off to form their own ‘pack’ (i.e., they mature and leave to reproduce). From this perspective, it _isn’t_ anthropocentric to write fics with pack dynamics that approximate a family.

Given what we know of real wolf packs/families, it seems an uneasy conclusion that any attempt to impose a family dynamic over the typical pack structure in werewolf lore is anthropocentric. Particularly since this understanding of pack dynamics is itself based on a historical misrepresentation of real wolf packs (Davis 2013). So while this metaphor isn’t inherently anthropocentric very few fics try to rectify this tension without relying on anthropocentric conceptualizations of family—but some do exist.[mom]

Of course, it’s unlikely that this is the underlying motivation for the metaphor in fic. This interpretation also depends on if we think that werewolves are more analogous to wild wolves or humans. More importantly, when we understand that the pack-as-family metaphor most often assumes the werewolf psychology discussed in the previous chapter, we can see that any conceptualization of pack dynamics based on that psychology is necessarily anthropocentric.  All that is happening[pounce] is a move from the micro to the macro. The pack stands as a proxy for the werewolf and the family for humans.

It’s clear when we look at fics who use the metaphor as a means for building conflict and narrative tension. In most cases, we start with a pack and end with a family. While it’s true that in a lot of these fics we start with a pack that is dysfunctional in various ways—most often because of the inept leadership of Dirk—and the main narrative conflict is building a ‘good’ pack. It just so happens that in many of these fics a pack is judged ‘good’ when it metaphorically becomes a family. It is a process of civilization. Just as Dirk’s competence depends on his proximity to civilized human behaviour, the pack’s goodness depends on its proximity to human families. It’s not accidental that, in many of these fics, these narratives are parallel.

## 3.3 Koz as the Pack’s Mom and Glue

It becomes easier to understand how the ‘pack as family’ metaphor is anthropocentric when we look at a common trope/theme in fic. This is the trope wherein Koz is viewed either as the pack mom or as  the ‘glue’ necessary for making the pack into a family. [glue]This theme is particularly telling because in many fics where it occurs, Koz’s humanity tends to be emphasized and is critical to how the pack comes together as a family. Put another way, it’s obvious that Koz’s humanity _civilizes_ the pack, finally allowing them to become a family and, thus, become a ‘good’ and functional pack.

In the previous chapter, I discussed the failwolf tag and how anthropocentric characterizations of Dirk inform fandom’s perception of his incompetence: “A fic, gifset, artwork, etc. may bear the ‘failwolf’ name so long as it makes fun of [Dirk] for not being as cool as he wants to be or not being a good alpha or not having any friends…” (“Failwolf Friday - Fanlore” n.d.). Dirk’s characterization as incompetent is particularly important when it comes to fandom’s perception of his tenure as alpha—which is widely regarded as an abject failure.

Indeed, there are many fics—some of which are fandom classics—wherein his incompetence as an alpha and inability to build a ‘real’ pack requires Koz’s intervention. Koz essentially reforms Dirk—often by teaching him better social skills (ie, civilizing him into becoming a ‘good’ alpha)—and thereby teaches him (and us) the true meaning of pack. It’s important to remember that in many cases Dirk’s poor social skills and inability to verbalize are key factors to his failure as an alpha and building a pack. In this way, it almost seems that Dirk’s poor social skills and verbal acuity are intrinsic to his failure as an alpha. In other words, the less civilized he is,  the more he fails to build a healthy pack/family.[healthy] Thus, Koz’s civilizing influence on him—and the pack as a whole—becomes necessary.

This fandom trope is particularly interesting given how Dirk is one of the few characters to have grown up in what is portrayed as a powerful and respected pack. More interesting is that Dirk himself draws attention to the problems inherent in the trope in Season 1, Episode 2:  “You think your little buddy [Koz] can just google werewolves, and now you got all the answers, is that it?”. [google] It gets to the heart of why this trope is anthropocentric. Koz is human and new to the supernatural world and yet the health of the pack depends more on him than any other character, including the alpha.

Interestingly, Koz’s role in civilizing Dirk and the pack is only more apparent in those fics that portray him as the pack mom. If we look at the quotation from Freud, he talks about how men are “not gentle creatures who want to be loved” (Freud 1962, 52). While it is true he was writing during a period in which ‘men’ was intended to be representative of humanity as a whole, it’s also the case that women were most certainly _not_ viewed in this light. Rather women—particularly mothers—are typically viewed as the parent who teaches their children manners and etiquette. They are the civilizing influence within a household. In fics where Koz is portrayed as  the pack mom,[pack mom] this is exactly the role he plays. They are the most explicit and obvious example of how and why the ‘pack as family’ metaphor tends to be so anthropocentric within the fandom.

* * *

## Footnotes

**strict** “Okay… but really, big guy,” Stiles says, “how strick is pack hierarchy? Like… do you always have to submit to your mom? What happens when you don’t? Can she use the alpha force to compel you?”

Derek heaves a big sigh, “No, Stiles. She can’t compel us. She’s also not a tyrant. If she were, we’d probably turn against her. You know the Hale pack symbol is a triskelion?” Stiles nods, so Derek continues, “My mom always says it stands for ‘alpha, beta, omega’ and it’s to remind us that any wolf can rise and fall from any of them. An alpha can become an omega, if their pack rejects them. An omega can become an alpha if enough wolves turn to them for leadership. Tyrannical alphas don’t remain alphas for long… they’re either rejected by their pack or killed. For us… the pack always comes first. Tyrants crave power for _themselves_. Our instincts naturally turn us away from any wolf who constantly puts themselves first. Worse… wolves who continuously engage in that sort of anti-social behaviour eventually break their pack bones.”

“Huh… isn’t it weird, though, submitting to your _mom_?”

“Why would it be weird to submit to my alpha? That’s natural,” Derek’s… confused.

“Yeah, but she’s also you _mom!_ ” Stiles says with a flail.

“I think the whole dominance/submission thing is the hardest thing for humans who didn’t grow up in a pack to understand. I’m sure you get that there’s nothing sexual about it… which, I know you already know. But it…” Derek’s searching hard for the right word, “It feels like _freedom_ more than anything else. Comforting, too.”

Stiles finds he has nothing else to say because of the shining look in Derek’s eyes when he was trying to explain how submitting to his alpha— _mom_ —felt like freedom was… Beautiful. It kind of made Stiles want to feel it so he could understand. He’d always balked against authority.

But Derek makes it sound… amazing. [return to text]

* * *

**formal** Stiles couldn’t stop thinking about it and it was distracting him from the essay, “If I did want to join the pack, what would I have to do?”

He hears Derek sharply inhale and when he turns to look, Derek has the most _intense_ look in his eyes. It’s startling.

“Any rituals there might depend on the pack. The Hales tend to be informal, so it usually involves submitting to the alpha and bite,” Derek said, eyes glowing that violet-blue.

“But if I don’t want to be turned?”

“You won’t. But part of the submission is trusting your alpha, if you don’t trust them enough to respect your wishes, you shouldn’t be trying to join the pack,” Derek explained.

“It can’t be that easy,” Stiles protested.

“Nothing about that is easy, especially for humans who lack our instincts,” Derek scoffed, “Remember, submission means something else to us. And isn’t just about the alpha but submitting yourself to the _pack_. It’s giving up the kind of independence that’s so highly prized in human culture these days. And it has to be _genuine_. Pack bonds are magic and intent _matters_. If the true, genuine intent isn’t there, you’ll never bond into the pack.”

Stiles nods quietly… it’s a lot to think about. A part of him has always wanted to join but… he is _really_ independent. Having to grow up fast and take care of his father ensured that. [return to text]

* * *

**bonds** “And, no,” Derek says when Stiles turns to him, “I’m not going to try and explain pack bonds. There’s no frame of reference for humans. I think howling is about the only way I could try to vocalize how they feel and what they mean to me. If Scott had joined the pack, maybe he could try.” [return to text]

* * *

**metaphor** “So…” Stiles begins, “I’m curious how you think about pack. Like… before reading this essay, I always thought of it as family. Even before Scott was bitten, he was my brother, so it made sense we were pack after. And, like, your family is your pack…”

Derek hummed, "From what I understand of human families in the media, they aren’t the same thing. In human families, people still seem to be able to feel isolated and alone… That’s never true of pack. The whole point of pack is that you’re part of a greater whole. That we’re stronger together. For example, I’ve read a lot of books where humans will hide their troubles or whatever from their families, not wanting to be a burden. Beyond the fact that keeping secrets is hard with our senses, in times of trouble we _always_ turn to our pack. We share our burdens. We never feel alone or lonely.

“From what I understand, it’s this—more than anything—that makes omegas so unhinged. It’s not that they go feral or lose touch with their non-existent humanity but that the loneliness and isolation drive them mad. It’s a little easier for bitten wolves since they have their human memories to rely on but for born wolves? We _need_ pack in a way that humans don’t need their families.”

“Huh,” Stiles said. He was going to continue the discussion but then he got distracted by the way Derek’s biceps flexed when he shifted around…

Because apparently, he wanted to play with Stiles’ hair. Like that was a thing they did.

(It wasn’t.) [return to text]

* * *

**family** “Thank jeebus!” Stiles declared.

“What,” Derek asked with a poke to his side. Stiles squirmed and Derek laughed.

“This writer is talking about the actual pack dynamics of wild wolves, instead of the bullshit most people think. It’s just refreshing, is all,” Stiles tells him.

“Hmm…” Derek’s thumb started slowly stroking the side of Stiles’ neck and he had no idea what to do about that.

Stiles had _no idea_ what was even going on today but he was too afraid that drawing attention to it would make it go away. [return to text]

* * *

**mom** Stiles was curious now, “Hey, Derek?”

“Yeah?”

“Is Talia your mom or alpha first? Like, which role is more important? Or how does it work for your cousins? Do they listen to their parents and then the alpha, or the other way around?”

Derek looked… confused, “I don’t understand.”

“Shit, um, okay. This is hard because your pack is also your family… I guess I’m wondering if filial relationships are more or less important than pack bonds,” Stiles tried to explain.

“Oh, I get it,” Derek said after a long moment, “Honestly, the question doesn’t make any sense. I don’t have a family, I have a pack.”

“Okay… but I’ve heard you talk about your mom and siblings. I’ve _met_ most of them. So you obviously have a family…” Stiles said.

“Well, no. Not really. We use human words because it makes it easier to blend but they don’t refer to the same things. My siblings are the pack members born in the same generation. All of us call our alpha ‘mom’ because it makes things easier. My aunts and uncles are all the people in my alpha’s generation. My dad is only my dad because he’s the alpha’s mate, he didn’t sire me—Peter did. In my case, it just happens that my alpha is also the person who bore me,” Derek explained.

It honestly made Stiles more confused, “Wait, _Peter_ sired you? I thought he was Talia’s brother?”

Derek shook his head, “No, he’s my dad’s brother, I think. I’m honestly not sure. Remember, everyone in that generation calls each other ‘brother’ and ‘sister’. It doesn’t really matter. It’s the job of the elders to track lineages—I was never that interested.” [return to text]

* * *

**pounce** Stiles was jolted out of his reading when 200lbs of werewolf pounced on him, “Wh– _Derek!_ ”

Derek didn’t say anything as he rolled around on top of Stiles, pretty much squishing him in the process.

“Dude, you weigh a _ton!_ Get off!” Stiles complained when he wished Derek would stay forever.

“I made you lunch,” Derek said.

“Grilled cheese?” Stiles asked.

“I know what you like, Stiles.”

“Okay. I’m willing to forgive you. But only this once,” Stiles said imperiously then squealed when Derek lifted his shirt and blew a raspberry on his belly.

This… was also new. Stiles decided to roll with it and bit Derek in retaliation. [return to text]

* * *

**glue** “So, like,” Stiles starts, “I’ve always identified with Koz on Werewolf High because he’s like the one normal human surrounded by super awesome people… and I like the pack fics because he’s central to it all. But this essay is talking about how him being the glue is anthropocentric and that kind of sucks.”

“Aw,” Derek laughs pulling Stiles in and kissing him on the forehead, “my sweet baby.”

Stiles can feel his face burning red because Derek just _kissed_ him. On the forehead, sure. But Derek’s lips have officially _touched_ him.

“But he totally brings the pack together!” Stiles whines.

“I don’t know about the whole anthropocentrism thing,” Derek says, “but… the whole idea flies in the face of the pack. Sure, every pack member is valuable and losing one is like losing a limb but the whole point of pack is that the whole matters more than the individual parts. The parts aren’t interchangeable or whatever, but a pack’s integrity can’t depend on a single person—not even the alpha.”

“Well, okay, but that’s not the point!” Stiles insists, “Koz helps bring them together as a pack, like… the glue!”

“That’s… pretty much what I’m saying. It’s not really a pack if _any_ individual is the glue. The _pack_ is supposed to be the glue that unites the members. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

Stiles pouts and flails when he feels himself get hauled into _Derek’s lap_ , a hand rubbing circles on his back. It’s condescending and Stiles is 97% sure Derek’s doing it to be a jerk but… it feels _really_ nice and he just kind of goes boneless, faintly feeling the vibration of Derek’s chuckle. [return to text]

* * *

**healthy** “So, like, you weren’t meant to be the alpha, right? Do you think you could build a healthy, good pack if the rest of your family died?” Stiles wondered. The whole alpha succession thing was something he didn’t really understand.

“I don’t understand,” Derek said with the adorable scrunch of his eyebrows. Stiles loved his eyebrows and wasn’t ashamed that he totally wanted to kiss them. Not ashamed but he also wasn’t about to tell anyone…

“Okay, so Laura’s going to be the next alpha, right?” Derek nodded and Stiles went on, “So is she getting all the alpha training? Because you’re not meant to be the alpha, or do you learn too, just in case?”

Derek just shook his head, “We should’ve talked more about these things. You just always insisted you knew. No one is ‘meant’ to be the alpha. We mostly assume it’ll be Laura because of her personality and the fact that she’s interested. But there’s no training, not really. Remember, with us, it’s usually about _instinct_. Even Laura, personality aside, is still a beta; she doesn’t have the instincts of an alpha. Those come with the spark. If my family all died and I became the alpha, I’d have my mom’s example to guide me. Also, any wolf can rise or fall. Given the right circumstances, I could become an alpha tomorrow without my mom losing her spark. Heck, if Laura keeps going as she is, she’ll probably rise on her own if enough of the pack starts looking to her.”

“So… the short answer is ‘yes’? You could build a good, healthy pack?” Stiles prodded.

Derek huffed, “Yes, Stiles, I think I could. Or either I’d build one or I wouldn’t have a pack at all. Unhealthy packs are unstable and don’t last long.”

“Even being traumatized and kind of fucked up in the head?”

Derek considered for a long moment, “Maybe not. Except, I wouldn’t be an alpha for very long. You can’t be an alpha without a pack. But we don’t react to trauma the way humans do. Humans often seem to isolate themselves… I read enough books where something bad happens and the main character pushes everyone away. Our instinct—if we’re hurt, scared, _whatever_ —is always to be with pack. We pull, instead of push. Obviously, there are ways this can be unhealthy since we will sacrifice our own needs and happiness for the sake of pack.”

“Huh,” Stiles says thoughtfully, “So you’ll internalize rather than lash out?”

“Usually, but all animals—wolf or human—can and will lash out if trapped, afraid, or hurt,” Derek says with a shrug.

It kind of hurts Stiles’ heart to think of Derek having Dirk’s life so he finds himself leaning in to rest his head on Derek’s shoulder. Hand reaching out to offer comfort Derek doesn’t need. He pauses the slow circles his thumb is making on the hand he’s holding— _Derek’s_ hand—when he hears Derek inhale sharply.

Stiles has had a… crush on Derek for a long time. He’s usually so _careful_ about how he touches him (if at all). This is the first time he’s done anything like this and… the most startingly thing is how natural it feels. Maybe it’s because things have been weird and different all day.

He lets himself linger before pulling away to keep reading. [return to text]

* * *

**google** The thing is… Stiles totally remembers the early days of Scott being turned, when he’d come up with the wild idea that he’d been bitten by a werewolf and done a bunch of research online… he’d done his best but there really wasn’t a lot of accurate information about werewolves online, especially if you didn’t have the right frame of reference. These days, he could mostly tell what was true and not but separating truth from fiction when werewolves weren’t supposed to exist _at all?_ Pretty much impossible.

“Remember what an awful know-it-all I used to be?” Stiles idly asked Derek.

“Yes. You were such an annoying kid back then.”

“Hey! I wasn’t a kid,” Stiles protested because he _really_ wanted Derek to see him as a grown-up, a _man_ that Derek might want to cuddle and have sex with. Stiles realized that his current pouting didn’t help his case _at all_.

“You were,” Derek says as he puts a hand on Stiles’ thigh, squeezing it, “I’m very glad you grew up.”

Stiles’ heart started racing at the warm, solid pressure of Derek’s hand on his thigh but it’s _pounding_ now at the look in Derek’s eyes. There’s a message there…

He just needs to be brave enough to listen. [return to text]

* * *

**pack mom** Stiles has mixed feelings about the whole ‘pack mom’ thing. He kinda likes how it challenges toxic masculinity to call a male character ‘mom’ but he hates that this only seems to come up when Koz exhibits stereotypically ‘feminine’ traits. Like, the only times when he’s the pack mom, it’s because he cooks and cleans. Because he’s ‘nurturing’. Maybe if it came up just because he’s Dirk’s mate, Stiles would feel differently about it. [return to text]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'd started another section that discussed pack hierarchy outside of a family dynamic but... stopped for some reason and I can't remember what I was going to say. 
> 
> If I ever do, I'll post it as an appendix or something.


	4. Emissaries, Inter-pack Relations, and Werewolf Culture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the point where I totally ran out of steam...
> 
> I probably have more thoughts about this but...

Interestingly,  emissaries are one of the more detailed aspects of werewolf and pack lore in Werewolf High.[emissary] In Season 3, Episode 8, we are given the background history of emissaries and the possible origins of werewolves. Emissaries are usually druids, according to Werewolf High’s lore, and one werewolf says that emissaries “keep us connected to humanity”. Of course, in the lore, it goes a bit further claiming that it was the druids who taught the wolves—humans turned into wolves as a punishment from the gods—to shape-shift. Thus, the ‘connection’ is quite literal, rather than metaphorical.

These origins might suggest that this essay’s comments about anthropocentrism are not entirely applicable,[origins] since we are talking about a group that isn’t necessarily distinct from humans. Rather, they started as human, were turned to wolves, and then learned to shift between the two forms. However, even in the show, this is called a ‘myth’; beyond that, it isn’t particularly relevant millennia later when we have sentients like Dirk who were born as werewolves and grew up socialized in a pack. Even if werewolves started as humans, they currently are not human and born werewolves like Dirk were never human.

In regards to the show and emissaries, however, the most fascinating aspect of this lore is the choice of the title, ‘emissary’. There’s no explanation for why that particular term was chosen but the context suggests that druids were emissaries of _humanity_. In most fic, however, emissaries are representatives of the _pack_ —something that is especially true when Koz is the emissary. Depending on the story, emissaries represent the pack in inter-pack relations or to hunters/humans as a whole—or both. In both cases, it is interesting how individual writers conceptualize these relations.

It’s fairly common to see mentions of treaties or other formal agreements with other packs or with hunters.  It’s a detail that makes sense for hunters since it is a very _human_ approach to solidifying agreements between two peoples.[hunters] When it comes to inter-pack relations, though, it’s something more of a mystery. In stories where this plays a large role, we’ll often see mentions of things like ‘Pack Law’ or other such formal institutions. At times there’ll be governing bodies or the existence of bureaucratic structures. In fics where werewolves are known, the wolves are either  integrated into human socio-political structures[integrate] or have ones that are similar enough. The interesting thing about this is that we rarely see any reason _why_ werewolf culture and inter-pack relations would look like this.

It’s tempting to simply say that because humans do these things, it’s anthropocentric for werewolves to have them as well.  The notion of ‘Pack Law’ refutes the simple explanation.[law] Werewolves are, at the very least, sentient beings. It’s not anthropocentric to assume that they’d have _some_ kind of customs or traditions. Customs can be a type of law: thus, conceptualizing both intra- and inter-pack dynamics within some kind of legal framework isn’t necessarily anthropocentric (of course, there are interesting possibilities suggested by trying to conceptualize werewolf culture _without_ customs but that’s something best left to the imagination).

Evidence of anthropocentrism in these conceptualizations of inter-pack dynamics reveal themselves when we compare the ‘dark’ versions of these alternate universes with their lighter counterparts. When looking at the details of werewolf culture in dark alternate universes, it quickly becomes apparent that ‘dark’ measures proximity to human norms. The less human the culture is, the darker the alternate universe. Thus, we circle back to Freud.

As noted in a previous section, _Civilization and its Discontents_ is a macro application of Freud’s psychological theories. It is most easily applied to the current level of analysis. He writes, “man is wolf to man” and, in the case of werewolf culture, the statement is literal (Freud 1962, 52). _Human_ notions of civilization are precisely what mark the difference between ‘dark’ werewolf culture and what we could call ‘normal’ werewolf culture. Put in another way, one that Freud might agree with, dark alternate universes are _deviant_ ones (i.e., they deviate from ‘normal’, anthropocentric conceptualizations of werewolf culture). Put in yet another way, the more ‘wolf-like’ (i.e., the less _human_ ), the darker (i.e., the less _civilized_ ), werewolf culture is portrayed.

So, we can see that the existence of emissaries and the socio-political structures that tend to surround them isn’t necessarily anthropocentric. However, it appears a great deal more anthropocentric when we consider that the emissary, most often, is required to be human—particularly in the context of canon lore. This is especially true when that human is Koz.

It was noted in chapter 2 that Koz, both by his general characterization and having ADHD, is frequently portrayed as defiant, laking a brain-to-mouth filter, emotional, and impulsive. None of these are particularly toned down or considered  negatives when it comes to him playing the role of emissary.[negative] Indeed, in many fics these qualities frequently are why he’s a particularly _good_ emissary, if unconventionally so. With this in mind, it becomes beyond perplexing that Koz would be considered both integral and successful at inter-pack relations—more so than Dirk, the alpha, at least. If we consider Dirk’s canonical statement that “communication doesn’t have to be spoken”, anthropocentrism is the only possible explanation for why his social deficits make him a ‘failwolf’ for inter-pack relations but Koz’s are the key to his success.

* * *

## Footnotes

**emissary** Stiles remembers that Werewolf High said that emissaries were often kept secret from the pack. This is one part of the show’s werewolf lore that he doesn’t know if it’s true or not.

“Does your pack have an emissary?” Stiles asks Derek, poking him in his side.

Derek grunts and smacks Stiles’ hand away. The grumpy jerk doesn’t like being bothered while he’s reading.

But Stiles needs an answer! So he starts relentlessly poking Derek, until he growls and pins Stiles to the couch, one big hand easily trapping both of Stiles’ wrists.

He’s suddenly breathless. Derek’s face is so _close_ that Stiles can see the ring of brown surrounding his pupils. It’d taken Stiles awhile to realize that Derek had central-heterochromia (he’d even had to look that up, despite his vast knowledge of trivia). It made Stiles vaguely resentful because Derek’s eyes were already this amazing shade of green… but they were actually _two_ freaking colours!

“ _What?_ ” Derek growls.

“Um…” Stiles has kind of forgotten what he was asking Derek about in the first place.

He can’t believe he was cliche enough to _literally_ get lost in Derek’s eyes. Eyes that are narrowing because now he thinks Stiles was bugging him just to be annoying, which isn’t true!

The ensuing tickle attack nearly makes Stiles pee his pants. [return to text]

* * *

**origins** He’s researched a lot of werewolf myths but Stiles suddenly realizes that he’s never _asked_ a freaking werewolf about their origins. Fortunately, he has a werewolf’s feet in his lap—because Derek decided to stretch out and reveal a far too distracting strip of belly.

Stiles wiggles one of Derek’s toes and asks, “Where do you guys come from?”

Derek blinks because he’d apparently been drowsing, “Wha–”

“Like an origin story. Or creation myth? Whatever. Like there are a lot of _human_ myths about werewolves but I don’t know any werewolf myths,” Stiles gestures expansively.

“Oh. No.”

“No…?”

“We don’t have any myths or stories like that,” Derek shrugs.

“What, really? So you guys have _no_ explanation for where you come from? What about like, just a general creation myth? For the world or whatever?”

Derek shakes his head.

“But… but… _how?_ You don’t care? I thought every culture had a creation myth?” Stiles asks wonderingly.

“The Chinese don’t. It’s uncommon but, no, we don’t care. We’re here. So is the world. Knowing and understanding how to live in it is all that matters,” Derek says.

“Wait, does that mean there’s no afterlife? Religion?”

“There might be an afterlife. Or not. It’s not something that most of us care about. There is religion, of sorts. Mostly connected to the moon.”

“Huh,” Stiles’ mind is kind of blown.

“You want to know what Confucius said when one of his followers asked about death? ‘You do not yet understand life—how could you possibly understand death?’” (Confucius, Analects 11.12)

Stiles needs to subtly shift Derek’s feet off his lap because of the major nerd-boner he just got. [return to text]

* * *

**hunters** “Are there treaties with hunters?” Stiles mumbles to himself. He knows they exist but he’s never met a hunter, although he heard the Argents were hunters. But they left years ago.

Derek snorts and Stiles looks up, “Treaties _with hunters?_ Never.”

“Why not? Seems like a peaceful way to not get killed.”

“You can’t have peace against an enemy that doesn’t see you as people. Even the allegedly ‘good’ hunters—like the Argents claimed to be—are nothing but genocidal asshats,” Derek explains.

“So you’re, what, at constant war?” Stiles asks, a little incredulous. Especially since things are so peaceful in Beacon Hills.

“No. We just kill hunters whenever they pop up. Unfortunately, they’re like weeds.”

Stiles is… shocked. Derek is so casual about murder and he’s generally a marshmallow.

“Is that– is that what happened to the Argents? I thought they just moved away,” Stiles says.

“Kate Argent tried to seduce me when I was thirteen,” Derek says in a really matter-of-fact tone, “I told my mom and we killed the entire family. Our allies hunted down any Argents they could find too.”

“Wow. Holy shit. I don’t even–”

“Stiles,” Derek says, looking very serious, “Hunters think we are _less than dogs_. We are _predators_. We don’t indiscriminately kill but we will hunt down any and all threats to the pack and our territory. Hunters want to kill _all werewolves_ , we only kill the humans who threaten us. It’s not a war because humans who find out about us and decide to start hunting us never live long enough to become a real threat. The real reason we hide from the world and live in secret is that we want to live in peace. If the general population found out about the supernatural and decide to start a war, they’d _lose_ but it would take time and a lot of lives.”

Stiles has no idea what to think about that, “You sound so sure.”

“Hunters always seem to forget that we are just as intelligent and capable of using human technology. Fuck, they forget that ‘human’ technology wasn’t created just by humans. Combine that with the fact that we can reproduce faster through biting and turning humans? That we could have droves of new werewolves if we focused on recruiting disabled ones first? Attrition alone means we’d inevitably win, even if it’s by turning all the humans and killing the rest. Why are zombies so terrifying? Because they add to their numbers by biting and never stop. And this isn’t counting how other supernatural beings would influence the war. Our secrecy protects _humans_.”

“Holy shit. _Holy shit._ ”

“But you don’t have to worry,” Derek says with a soft smile that Stiles has never seen, “The pack would keep you safe. _I’d_ keep you safe.” [return to text]

* * *

**integrate** “Um… okay. So I know what you think would happen if humans and werewolves went to war, but what do you think would happen if humans found out and there _wasn’t_ a war?”

“How do you mean?” Derek asks.

“Well, how do you think they’d integrate? Right now, werewolves live by human laws. Would you just start fighting for werewolf rights? Equality and stuff?”

“I can’t speak for anyone else but I wouldn’t. It hasn’t gone well for human minorities. I’d want us to seize full control of our territories. Stop following human law entirely. If we aren’t keeping the secret anymore, I don’t see why we would submit to the absurdity of human politics,” Derek says.

“What would you do with the humans in your territory?” Stiles wonders.

“Nothing, really. They’d submit to the pack’s governance—or not and be free to leave. Maybe forced to leave.”

“What about–”

Derek laughs, “I don’t have all the details, Stiles. I haven’t thought too much about it. I’m not the alpha and it wouldn’t be up to me anyway. Again, you wouldn’t have to worry. I’d—we’d—keep you safe.”

Derek throws an arm around Stiles’ shoulders and squeezes him. Stiles wasn’t actually worried but it’s not like he’s going to push Derek away. Not when he smells this good and is so warm.

“Okay… but really, what cologne do you wear?”

“Why do you keep asking, Stiles?” there’s a hint of… _something_ in Derek’s voice, it has Stiles looking up at him, “Think I smell good? I already told you, I don’t wear artificial scents. Most wolves don’t.”

There’s something… suggestive in Derek’s voice that Stiles doesn’t understand. But he’s too warm and comfy to want to think about it right now. [return to text]

* * *

**law** “A minute ago, you said something living by human laws and our absurd politics, is there werewolf law? Like… I sort of know-how packs work but how do things work _between_ packs? How is order and stuff kept?” Stiles asks. He’s been reading the essay but he’s getting really distracted by wanting to _know_ about this stuff. He can’t believe how many questions he never thought to ask.

“There are…” Derek trails off, clearly searching for the right words, “Customs. Traditions. Nothing written. Most of that is internal pack stuff, though. For inter-pack stuff… in the past, there were customs and traditions but those largely depended on and applied to the region. There was no reason to have customs to deal with wolves on the other end of the country. Of course, with modern mobility, we’ve had to adapt. Interestingly, humans are largely responsible for creating more stability and peace between packs–”

“Why?” Stiles interrupts to demand.

Derek rolls his eyes, “I’m in the middle of telling you, Stiles. White humans insist that land can be owned, which means that in the modern world land _must_ be owned. So territory boundaries have stabilized a great deal since it isn’t quite so easy for a pack to move into a new area if they can’t buy enough land. There used to be more conflicts around territories. Take Beacon Hills, for example, a new pack _could_ try to take it over but even if they beat my mom, the Hales still owns the preserve and a lot of land around here. On the other hand, territory boundaries don’t always follow human borders. It gets complicated. But we honestly don’t have a lot of ‘laws’ as you might call them,” Derek shrugs.

“Okay… but what happens if you want to go to college in another pack’s territory? Or you have a job where you travel a lot? How do you handle that?”

“At most, one alpha will call another to let them know what’s happening. Even that’s more of a courtesy thing so that the pack member isn’t mistaken for an omega.”

“But what about the _territory?_ Isn’t that some kind of threat? Going on someone’s territory without permission?”

“Stiles,” Derek sighs, “We are creatures of instincts but… we don’t have wars and conflicts like humans. Sure, we’re territorial but we aren’t _possessive_. Without white human insistence on private property, we wouldn’t bother owning any. We’re also intelligent enough to understand that if another alpha informs you that their beta will be on the territory and isn’t a threat, it’s enough to appease our instincts. It’s… inter-pack relations aren’t _political_ like international relations. You must’ve noticed that we don’t tend to lie, right?”

Stiles nods because it’s _so_ true. He and Scott had both thought Derek was a giant dick because of how bluntly he’d speak the truth but they’d learned that no one in the pack lied to each other. If they didn’t want to talk about something, they simply didn’t talk.

"We save that for humans. When everyone—or most, anyway—in the pack can scent chemo-signals, read body language, and hear lies, we simply don’t bother with it. It makes it incredibly easy to just… talk through our problems. My alpha can call another to say ‘my beta will only be in your territory for college’ and her words will be believed.

“Mostly… you can’t forget that werewolves are all about _pack_. We are naturally inclined to work cooperatively, that behaviour is reflected in inter-pack relations.”

“Huh,” Stiles says, “One thing this essay keeps talking about is how the micro and macro reflect each other. If individual werewolves are inclined to cooperation and not aggressiveness, it makes sense that inter-pack relations are much the same.”

“Exactly!” Derek beams. Stiles is arrested by the dimple he can see and the way that Derek’s full-on smile is like a ray of actual sunshine.

It’s ruining his day.

So he ‘harrumphs’ and grumpily goes back to reading, trying to ignore Derek and his awful sunshine smile. [return to text]

* * *

**negative** “Why do you smell so frustrated?” Derek asks, interrupting Stiles’ reading.

It’s a good thing too because, yeah, he’s _frustrated,_ “It’s just… I find how Koz is written in fandom so _aggravating_ sometimes,” Stiles says and his flailing arm almost hits Derek in the face, Derek dodges and captures his hand, bringing it down, his thumb starts to rub slow circles. It’s very calming and that’s annoying too.

“Why?”

“In some ways, we’re very alike. Except that in magical fandom land, he gets rewarded for the traits we share while it causes me no end of shit. In a lot of these stories they have him being a diplomat despite having shitty social skills! How many jobs did I get fired from before I developed a brain to mouth filter? _Two!_ And that’s too many because I _needed_ those jobs. I just… I hate the ways I’ve had to force myself to change just so I can get by. That I had to learn how to smile and nod as some asshole boss abuses his authority. And I get that this is supposed to be imaginary—that this is urban _fantasy_ and why bother with realism have anyway?—it still makes me burn with jealousy. And it brings me out of the story because it’s so discordant with _my_ life. It’s easier to buy into a world where werewolves exist than it is to imagine ableism no longer being relevant–” Stiles stops himself when he realizes that he’s almost crying frustrated tears. He doesn’t want to do this today, not when it’s been such a good day hanging out with Derek.

“ _Stiles,_ ” Derek says and it feels like his heart is torn into pieces. He’s never understood how Derek can imbue his name with so much _meaning_ , “I understand, believe me, I do. At least with me—and the pack—you can be yourself. I think you’re amazing and I wish the rest of the world thought so too.”

Stiles gives a small sniff. He doesn’t cry, though. Toxic masculinity and his life have taught him that no one cares if he cries, so there’s no point. [return to text]


	5. Conclusion

This essay is a fairly superficial analysis of anthropocentrism in Werewolf High—and urban fantasy in general. It was an exploration of certain themes or tropes that bring to light the way that anthropocentrism has formed and shaped the ways that writers conceptualize werewolves. It started with the micro—the individual—and worked its way up to the macro—werewolf culture as a whole. Freud, despite the many problems inherent in his work, was incredibly useful for understanding the psycho-social assumptions that shape and frame these conceptualizations.

As noted in the introduction, this essay isn’t intended as  criticism for the writers or their works,[criticism] nor does it intend to comment about the quality of the fics within the fandom. However, it cannot be denied that these writers and their works exist within a particular social and cultural context. That their works, being produced within that context, codify some of the harmful ideologies present within the dominant social worldview.

Anthropocentrism _is_ one of many harmful ideologies within the white, capitalist, hetero-patriarchal worldview (to borrow a phrase from bell hooks). Freud—and his contemporaries— anthropomorphizing wolves to embody his erroneous conception of human nature is partially responsible for them being hunted to near-extinction. Anthropocentrism is likewise one of the ideological roots of our plethora of environmental disasters. While fiction is a relatively harmless reproduction of the idea, it is _still_ a reproduction. But fic only articulates a problem we are all responsible for: it—and the writers—are not the _cause_.

Beyond the material consequences, anthropocentrism also limits the imagination. There are so many exciting possibilities when we try to conceptualize and grapple with the existence of non-human sentient beings. Consider one of my favourite (urban) fantasy series by Anne Bishop, _The Others_. There are ‘werewolves’ and other mythological beings in the world she imagines but they are different—not _human_ —without being monsters, even if the wolves sometimes eat humans. Or  perhaps the _Being(s) in Love_ series by R Cooper,[beings] where the existence of non-human beings opens up the possibilities of  queer happy endings not usually seen in the genre.[happy ending] If nothing else, questioning the assumptions that frame our work is fertile ground for the imagination.

* * *

## Footnotes

**criticism** Fandom had such a weird relationship with criticism, Stiles thought to himself. On the one hand, people engaged with it purely out of love and pleasure. Writers wrote amazing novels for _free_. Which, sure, was awesome but it also seemed to spawn a notion that they or their work shouldn’t be criticized or critiqued. That if you didn’t enjoy a particular story or whatever, you should just let it go without comment.

On the other hand, all creative works exist within a larger context. This essay was a great example of that. Stiles could probably come up with at least five different examples for each type of anthropocentrism mentioned—but it would be considered bad form to mention them by name. Except that the essay made some valid points as to why anthropocentrism is a _harmful_ idea/worldview/whatever.

This didn’t even take to account more obviously oppressive ideas that worked their way into a lot of fic. But apparently it was Bad to callout a fic writer for racism just because they wrote for free. Writers with mainstream publications were okay to critique but not fic writers.

As far as Stiles could see, the main argument was that fandom was supposed to be _fun_ and critiquing people’s free labour could discourage them from writing more. Because apparently talking about racism ruined fandom for (white) people. That racism in fandom ruined the enjoyment of readers of colour was less important if it caused a writer to withdraw.

What Stiles failed to understand was why the world needed _more_ racist stories. As far as he was concerned, the loss of a writer unwilling to examine the oppressive elements that their story might’ve unintentionally reproduced was no loss at all. [return to text]

* * *

**beings** Stiles isn’t embarrassed to admit that he squeed at seeing one of his favourite authors being mentioned in some random essay. He heard Derek huff and looked up to see him watching Stiles with an inquisitive eyebrow raised.

“This essay just mentioned R Cooper’s urban fantasy series and it’s one of my favourites. It’s not nearly as popular as it should be,” Stiles explains.

“What’s so great about it?” Derek asks, an amused and indulgent look on his face. It’s in this moment that Stiles finally and truly _believes_ that today’s flirting actually _is flirting_. That Derek likes him because no one has _ever_ encouraged Stiles to rant and rave about his favourite things. Not even his dad. His dad will listen—long-sufferingly.

But here Derek is, asking for _more_. It’s… exhilarating.

"It’s just… they’re queer romances in a way very few books are. Like… between the mainstreaming of slash and the rise of m/m romance, there’s a lot more LGBT content out there. But… very little of it is _queer_. Hell, a lot of it wouldn’t count as gay if the two main characters weren’t both men. A lot of it is so heteronormative and homonationalist.

"Not R Cooper, though! She doesn’t use a lot of the more popular tropes in the genre and, often, when she _does_ use them, they’re subverted. Or inverted. _Whatever._ The point is that she’ll write an entire novel of the characters being soft and gentle with each other, despite one being more ‘masculine’. And, like, her monsters aren’t _human_. I just… I don’t know. They’re amazing. There’s a quality to them that’s hard to describe and pretty much unique to her.

“But because she doesn’t follow the typical romance formula, she isn’t the most popular author. And it totally sucks,” Stiles finished on a grumpy note.

“Hmm… can I borrow one?” Derek asked.

“Oh, totally. I can’t _wait_ to talk about them with you,” Stiles gushed as he rushed to his bookshelf.

He didn’t notice Derek creeping up behind him until he felt the heat of his body, “Which one are you going to pick?”

Stiles was a little too distracted by the feeling of Derek’s body and the sound of his voice right in his ear to form a coherent reply. While he was sure that Derek was flirting now, he wasn’t quite brave enough to lean back into Derek’s solid bulk—like he desperately wanted to. [return to text]

* * *

**happy ending** “Finally done with that essay?” Derek asks.

Stiles groans, “It wouldn’t have taken so long if you hadn’t kept distracting me!”

“I distracted you.” Derek says flatly, an eyebrow raised.

“Yes, you did!” Stiles insists.

“Sure, Stiles,” Derek rolled his eyes, “But you’re finished?”

Stiles nods.

“Good. We can still make our reservations if we leave now,” Derek says, hauling Stiles to his feet.

“Okay, just let me change my shirt,” Stiles says and then pauses because, “Wait, what? What reservations?”

“The ones I made before coming here to ask you out,” Derek says, gently pushing Stiles in the direction of his room.

“Before you came here to ask me _what?_ ” Stiles’ voice raises in alarm and surprise, “But you haven’t asked me out. I’m pretty sure that never happened!”

“I didn’t ask. But you’re coming anyway,” Derek states.

“What if I don’t want to!?” Stiles protests.

“You want to,” Derek says with calm certainty. It’s annoying because Stiles _does_ want to. He also wants Derek to ask, “Don’t pout. If you wanted me to ask, you shouldn’t have said anything about my scent.”

“What does _that_ have to do with anything?” Stiles demands.

“You asked me a lot of questions about werewolves today… why didn’t you ask about mates?”

Stiles is pretty sure this is what the blue-screen-of-death feels like. He just slumps into Derek’s arms because there’s no _way_ Derek said what he just said.

“But… _what?_ ”

Derek just sort of lifts and spins Stiles around because he’s a superstrong werewolf jerkface. One arm still holding Stiles, Derek uses the other to cup his face and plants a gentle but firm kiss on Stiles’ slack lips, “Mates, Stiles. Change quickly because we have a few things to talk about.” [return to text]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG. It's DONE.


	6. Citations

Ahmed, Sara. 2017. “Queer Fatalism.” Feministkilljoys (blog). January 13, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20200607105125/https://feministkilljoys.com/2017/01/13/queer-fatalism/.

“Anthropocentrism.” 2020. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anthropocentrism&oldid=973226442.

Confucius. 2003. Confucius Analects: With Selection from Traditonal Commentaries. Translated by Edward G. Slingerland. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Pub. Co.

Davis, Lauren. 2013. “Why Everything You Know about Wolf Packs Is Wrong.” Io9. May 12, 2013. ttps://web.archive.org/web/20200818043527/https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-everything-you-know-about-wolf-packs-is-wrong-502754629.

“Failwolf Friday - Fanlore.” n.d. Accessed October 4, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20190721031615/https://fanlore.org/wiki/Failwolf_Friday.

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Translated by James Strachey. 1st American ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 1962.

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